The invention also relates to an apparatus for separating a well production flow consisting of a mixture of oil, water and gas, comprising a static separator for separating a well production flow into a light and a heavy phase, ie, a gas phase and a liquid phase.
In connection with the growing need to recover oil from so-called marginal fields, there has been an increase in the need for light, compact, flexible and cost-effective processing equipment.
Many of today's known marginal fields would not be capable of providing a proper yield without the costs of the processing plants being reduced from today's level. A typical processing plant for an oil field consists of oil/water separation and stabilisation, water purification, a water injection unit and a gas reinjection unit.
As a rule, production from marginal fields will be carried out from ships or smaller vessels which are equipped with the most essential processing systems. It is therefore of great importance that the processing equipment also functions satisfactorily during quite large movements, eg, during surging, heaving and tilting.
Today, oil/water separation from an oil reservoir is carried out in large static gravitation separators where the separation takes place under the force of gravity. Drawing off takes place through respective overflows and underflows having great differences in height so that it is simple to draw off a pure phase which has been separated.
Static gravitation separators are large and heavy and not very serviceable for producing from marginal fields at great depths of water, from floating platforms or vessels in motion, from the seabed or directly in the reservoir. There is therefore a need for a reduction in the physical dimensions of the units, and it is thus one of the objectives of the present invention to propose measures which allow the physical dimensions of separation units to be greatly reduced.